Customer Reviews

Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race

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This book was originally published in 1952 and then renewed in 1980. This book along with the author's three volume series "Sex and Race" are simply the best books ever written on the issue of race mixing.

The book consists of 11 chapters which are:

I. Where did the color problem originate? and why

Rogers investsigates the origin of black/white racism by looking at what has been written about black skin and black people in ancient times.

II. Color prejudice among whites and among darker peoples for their own kind.

Examples of racist beliefs in Greece, Ancient India and Europe. Numerous photos of sculptures are given along with references.

III. Negroes in Ancient Europe - Greece

The title of this chapter speaks for itself. There are numerous illustrations. The one flaw in this chapter that I found is the statement by the author that one finds the least race predudice in Europe. Maybe this was true in the 50s, but it certainly isn't true today. Iceland is perhaps the only European country with very little or no race predudice today. With the advent of immigration however, I wouldn't be surprised to see racism grow in Iceland just as it has grown in Europe since the 50s.

IV. Intermixture of whites and blacks in ancient Rome

As usual, Rogers provides numerous notes with references along with illustrations.

V. Racial intermixture in Spain and Portugal

The history of the moors in spain is discussed. It is a well known fact that the moorish scholars laid down the foundation of scientific thought in Europe.

VI. The negro as "moor" - negro ancestry in aristocratic european families

Coats of arms of eminent black English, French, Dutch, Beligian, Italian, Spanish, Polish, German and central european families is given. Many of the pictures show black people wearing jewels, crowns, and holding swords. Whatever they are wearing or doing, they are obviously people of very high status. There is no doubt that the royal family of England has blacks in their family. On the cover of the book, there is a picture of Queen Charlotte Sophia who obviously is woman of black ancestry.

VII. Mixtures of whites and blacks in Greece, Turkey, Italy and Central Europe

Pictures of the European slave market is given along with pictures of blacks in Russia, Belgium and Holland. There are also pictures German women with their interracial children. Interracial marriages in Norway and Denmark are also mentioned.

VIII. Negro ancestry in the French

IX. Negro ancestry in the Anglo-Saxon "race"

Throughout europe there are indeed many prominent people who are of black ancestry.

X. Negro ancestry in white america

XI. Some recent well-to-do mixed marriages mentioned in the press

A listing of interracial marriages (names and dates) in the US, some of which brought prison terms.

J. A. Rogers was an excellent historian and the greatest historian I've ever read. He gives information that no other historian has ever published in any book. Not only would the information shock you, the pictures will shock you as well. Example: pages 83-91, 94-107 (pictures of the Black-a-Moors of European noble families). J. A. Rogers goes into uncharted unexplored territory about the issue of race, including genetics, who was the first race, racial superiority and inferiority, and interracial mixing throughout human history. He also gives info not even white historians here in America have talked about. (Example; in his book "Sex and Race Vol. 1", page 87 he has a painting by French painter Jean Paul Laurens of the "Black" Roman Emperor Honorius). Especially, the pictures of the "Black" a.k.a. "Negroid" photographs of the Black Madonnas, Black Christs, Black Messiahs, Black Krishnas, and Black Buddhas. J. A. Rogers even mentions the lost manuscript of Flavious Josephus titled Halosis on page 40 of Rogers' book which Josephus describes Jesus as "...a man of simple appearance mature age, dark skin, with little hair...". These are just a few of the many facts J. A. Rogers gives in his works. Another awesome book he wrote is "100 Amazing Facts About The Negro" and the masterpiece "Sex and Race, Vol 1, II, & III" Even "Nature Knows No Color-Line" is a master work, an examination of world history at it's finest. Rogers is indeed a master historian who deserves more attention and credit.

The redoubtable J.A. Rogers, the preeminent Black historian/anthropologist of his generation. His name is synonymous with reeducation in Black America. Yes, there were other notable Blacks of erudition in Rogers's time, but what gave him an edge was his courage to uncover, in stark detail, a history that the others were either too cowardly or unqualified to address or didn't address with the same fervor as Rogers. This made him a pioneer in his field. The literary triumph of Nature knows No Color-Line, much like the author's masterpiece Sex and Race, is that although its pages abound with amazing truths about Black people, it evokes minimal friction from White people. This, in part, could be due to the unique nature of Rogers's bold examination of miscegenation as a cohesive element of race harmony, despite its historical divisive implications.

Here is a real page-turner for the conscious mind, and an eye-opener for the sleeping one. Great reading and easy on the noggin, considering the topic. The book is strewn with rare pictures (most are probably daguerreotypes) and illustrations that are so spellbounding and mysteriously intriguing, they entrance you into an intuitive realization that, while you cannot recall a previous installation of them in your mental gallery, you are somehow aware of a spiritual familiarity with them and the times from which they emerge. You actually come face-to-face with truth. Thus, through art and photographs and his restless narrative, Rogers shows Black people (and some White people) a world they never knew existed, and yet, especially as it concerns Black people; it is a world in which they prominently exist--and a world in which both people appear to coexist. He lifts the curtain on the world stage to expose Americans to the true drama behind the "play."

Nature's "color-line" dividing White and Black is certainly illusory, as only one line--a bloodline, connects humanity. But racism and discrimination are real creations of mankind, which they perpetuate through their governmental, religious, economical, political and educational systems to sustain the racial disconnect. Through this work, Rogers reminds us that Mother Nature has never established such demarcations for the human family, and has never given birth to "niggers" or slaves, but to one humanity in all its wonderful varieties.

I recommend Sex and Race, and everything else by J.A. Rogers.

This book is a collection of photos, facts and figures but despite this it makes a fascinating read. Mr. Rogers writes about a taboo subject, the mixing of races, or as part of his title states "Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race." It is a fascinating book if somewhat stodgy and a bit pompous in places. Considering that it was written at a time when mixing white with black was illegal in many American States Mr. Rogers does a fairly good job of informing the reader of how the white-person should not be so complacent about his or her supposedly pure racial heritage. Mr. Rogers argues eloquently that race should not be an issue, and that it is humanity that counts not the colour of a person's skin. This is a good book if you want to read various anecdotes about racial mixing throughout the world both ancient and modern (modern being the 1950s when this book was published) and I would recommend it as a good but somewhat dated book on racial issues in the world.

This is a very good book to purchase for your library. I would suggest that you look for a hard copy and not a paperback copy of this book. The hardcover copy has more vivid color pictures and it helps you to understand what you are looking at as you read the book. The paperback lacks the pop with the pictures because they are in black and white and not color.

This is an excellent book. The research is very thorough and it appears that "SEX and Race" and prejudice can be traced back to India starting over 5000 years ago with the invasion of the Arayans
in the Valley of the Indus. Another book on race is "Soul on Ice" by Elderidge. Cleavers. These two books could be considered companion because, the information on "SEX and Race" are profound.
Personally, this book is new material for me and I am happy I found it on Amazon so it can become part of my library.

In " Nature knows no Color Line, Rogers shows key relationships of the only ture race of mankind, THE HUMAN RACE!!! I read this great work several times, and have found it to be one of the greatest informational tools to link ancestry of all our people. Mr. Rogers was and still is my history HERO. I recommend all people to read this great work, because it is a eye opener to all the falsehoods and His-Stories told to us over the years. Free your mind and get mentally inebriated off of Rogers' work.

Great book to understand the minds set of people regarding the color during the centuries

For those of you who foolish believe that people of Black African descent throughout history was confined to the role of a slave, this book will totally shred such nonsense and enlighten you. J.A Rogers was definitely ahead of his time with this outstanding work. His bibiliography and sources are extensives and very reliable, as he uses many primary and scholarly sources to buttress the claims and facts he is presenting.

J. A. Roger discusses the history of Black people intermingling and marrying with different groups of people, particularly european people, since the days of Ancient Greece. The Greeks had great respect for the Ethiopians ( from the Greek word Ethiops, meaning black person), and in their plays/poems/songs had several "ethiopian themes" included: wisdom, deity, military strength, and beauty. The Roman's felt the same way about the Ethiopians, as many of their gods (and the Greeks) were black people.

The question of who were the moors is effectively answered in this book. They were largely Black Africans from the northwest region of Africa. Rogers gives a pletheora of primary sources that reinforces his claim that the moors were black africans, not to mention the thousands of coat of arms that contains Black "moors".

Racism is a political tool used to control a group of people in order to garner advantages for another group of people. This books reveals that racism is not natural nor has it been as systemic in societies since ancient times. The heighten racism we observe to day is largely the product of European racism, slavery, land conquest, and genocide of other groups of people.

Read this book!!